Telegraph Days (2006)

In Telegraph Days when she and her brother are orphaned in a desolate no-man's-land (which later becomes Oklahoma), Nellie Courtright — tough, sassy, and quite fond of sex — sashays into the nearest town, Rita Blanca, and finagles a job as a telegraph operator. Life isn't easy, but Nellie's not about to let little things like outlaws or snakes get her down. No, sirree. When her brother accidentally kills a passel of bandits, she turns the fracas into a best-selling booklet. Soon Buffalo Bill offers her a job, an Earp brother proposes marriage, and Jesse James tries to rob her. Nellie may not be Larry McMurtry's most original character to date, but the author delivers a raucous, saucy look back at the West he loves so well.